The Most Obscure and Forgotten Champions in WCW History

The Most Obscure and Forgotten Champions in WCW History
October 11, 2021
By Ryan Porzl

Originally, I intended to start this series after finishing my "Wrestlers you may have forgotten held a title" series but then I realized that 2021 is the 30th Anniversary of when NWA became WCW and next year has milestone anniversaries for New Japan, ROH, Impact, ECW, and All Japan so why not save those articles for next year even though I did one on New Japan already? Anyway, in my last series, I brought up wrestlers the average fans pretty much knows but may have forgotten they held a title in a promotion and so far I did one for New Japan and WCW. To continue WCW's anniversary, I will begin this series with them as I cover champions that the average fan barely remembers and would go "Who?". This article will take a look at the most forgettable and most obscure champions in WCW history. Like my previous WCW article, I'm only covering from January 1991-March 2001 so nothing from the Jim Crockett/NWA days or WWF owned WCW.

Kid Romeo (left) with Elix Skipper

Kid Romeo

Title Won: WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship

I suppose it's best to start with the last forgotten champion in WCW history. Turning pro during the last two years of WCW, Romeo trained at the WCW Power Plant and spent 1999 to 2000 mostly working the lower shows like WCW Saturday Night in an attempt to work on his craft. He was also briefly sent to New Japan Pro Wrestling for seasoning and spent most of 2000 there even participating in the Best of the Super Junior VII and scoring wins over future legends Katsuyori Shibata and Shinya Makabe (the future Togi Makabe). So if you ever wanted to know if he had anything else to put on his resume, there you go. Anyway, in early 2001, Romeo would make one WWF appearance on B-show Jakked before he made his return to WCW just as the promotion made the plan to crown Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions. Romeo would enter the tournament which ran during WCW's final month of March where he teamed with former Cruiserweight Champion Elix Skipper. The two would defeat the team of Air Raid (Air Paris and Air Styles a.k.a. AJ Styles) on the March 5th Monday Nitro and then the Jung Dragons (Kaz Hayashi and Yang) in the semifinals on the March 12th Monday Nitro before defeating the favorite team of Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman at WCW's final Pay-Per-View Greed on March 18th to become the inaugural champions. Sadly, Romeo wouldn't get to enjoy his moment for long as the WWF purchased WCW in the days following Greed and on the final WCW Monday Nitro on March 26th, Romeo and Skipper lost the titles to Mysterio and Kidman in a rematch, ending their title reign after only 8 days. After WCW was purchased, Romeo would be picked up by the WWF and sent to developmental territory Heartland Wrestling Association where he had a brief reunion with Skipper but was eventually released in December 2001. Afterwards, Romeo became a journeyman wrestler competing for IWA Puerto Rico, TNA (now Impact), MLW, and FIP while competing against the likes of Jerry Lynn, Raven, Jeff Hardy, America's Most Wanted, Triple X, and Chris Sabin but nothing amounted to a full time gig. After seven years of bouncing around and wrestling here and there, Romeo eventually retired in 2008.

Evan Karagias

Titles Won: WCW Cruiserweight Championship and WCW Hardcore Championship

To long time fans, with good memory, Evan Karagias is probably best known as "that third guy in 3 Count" but he is one of the few on this list to have won multiple titles. Like some of the names on this list, Karagias was a WCW Power Plant trainee. He turned pro in 1997 and spent his first two years largely on the smaller shows paying his dues though the company must've saw something in him as he did get the occasional Cruiserweight Title shot in late 1998 to mid 1999 against the likes of Juventud Guerrera, Rey Mysterio, Lenny Lane (more on him in a bit), and Disco Inferno. By the fall of 1999 and right around the time of Vince Russo's arrival, Karagias began to slowly move up the cards as he began a relationship with Madusa after letting her beat him in the WCW World Heavyweight Championship tournament. Karagias would be given a small push during this time and would go to capture the WCW Cruiserweight Championship against Disco at the WCW Mayhem 1999 pay-per-view on November 21st. Ultimately, Karagias wouldn't do much with the title outside of a house show title defense against the Maestro before having a falling out with Madusa which lead to a match at Starrcade 1999 on December 19th where Karagias lost the title to her.

Our story doesn't end there as shortly into 2000, Karagias would go on to the form the boy band stable 3 Count with future stars Shannon Moore and Shane Helms (the future Hurricane and Gregory Helms). After doing here and there stuff, they quickly ran afoul with WCW Hardcore Champion Brian Knobbs which led to a 3-on-1 handicap match for the title on the February 28th Monday Nitro. Taking advantage of the numbers, Karagias, along with the rest of 3 Count, would defeat the Nasty Boy to win the title resulting in the three men sharing the championship. Again, the title reign would be short as 3 Count would rematch Knobbs at WCW Uncensored on March 19th, where they lost a gauntlet match to lose the championship. After losing the title, Karagias would continue to be a regular for WCW during it's last year getting the occasional title shot while also being typecast in ladder matches against The Jung Dragons. He briefly left 3 Count to team with Jamie Noble before reuniting with Shannon Moore just as the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championships were being created. Like Romeo, Karagias was picked up by the WWF after they purchased WCW in 2001 and was sent down to HWA for further training. During this time, he and Moore continued their team and briefly held the HWA Tag Team Championship but Karagias would be let go by the end of the year. After his release, Karagias wrestled sporadically between 2002-2010 as he made appearances for XPW and AWA Superstars of Wrestling where he won the latter's world championship before retiring in 2010.

Lash LeRoux

Title Won: WCW World Tag Team Championship

Another forgettable name during WCW's final years but the story is largely the same. Once again, LeRoux was a WCW Power Plant graduate who turned pro in 1998. While LeRoux would get the occasional title shot such as challenging Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight Championship, Chris Benoit for the World Television Championship, and making it to the finals of the January/February 2000 Cruiserweight Championship tournament, it wasn't until the spring of 2000 during Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo's return to the company that LeRoux started to move up the card. During that time, he would be repackaged as Corporal Cajun and put in the Misfits In Action stable and actually started to get several title shots and more TV time whether it be challenging for the Cruiserweight Championship or teaming with General Rection for the World Tag Team Championship until he finally captured what turned out to be the one and only championship of his career. On the October 11th Thunder, LeRoux with Chavo Guerrero (as Lt. Loco) took on the WCW World Tag Team Champions Mark Jindrak and Sean O'Haire for the titles and would ultimately go on to win the belts. However, they wouldn't be able to enjoy the reign as WCW Commissioner Mike Sanders, who was aligned with Jindrak and O'Haire, would order an immediate rematch between the two teams and LeRoux and Guerrero would lose the titles back minutes later. After losing the titles, LeRoux would remain with the Misfits until they disbanded in early 2001. Towards the end of WCW, he would even get a shot at the WCW United States Championship against Rick Steiner. After WWF purchased WCW in March 2001, LeRoux would get picked up and was also sent to HWA for more training. However, by early 2002, he requested and received his release as he wanted to pursue other options than remain in limbo. After leaving, LeRoux appeared in Impact Wrestling's (then NWA-TNA) debut show in June 2002 to compete in the gauntlet for the gold for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship. After suffering a neck injury shortly after, he would work the independent scene for a number of years including a few returns to Impact in 2004 but was never able to get signed. Eventually, LeRoux retired from the ring in 2006.

Reno

Title Won: WCW Hardcore Championship

In a list of wrestlers who are largely forgettable, I think few are more forgettable than Reno. A former amateur wrestler and kickboxer, Reno started in 1998 in the indies before signing with WCW in 1999 where he received training in the Power Plant. He made his WCW debut in late 1999 and spent nearly a year gaining experience and even did a tour of New Japan Pro Wrestling in the spring of 2000. By the end of the summer, Reno began to move up the card and joined fellow Power Plant graduates in the Natural Born Thrillers stable which benefited Reno in more ways than one. In September 2000, Norman Smiley suffered an injury and had to vacate the WCW Hardcore Championship which resulted in a tournament. On October 2, 2000, Reno made it to the finals and took on Sgt. A-WOL for the vacant title. Originally, Reno would come up short until WCW Commissioner Mike Sanders reversed the decision and gave the match and championship to Reno. Reno would hold the title for a month during which time he retained against A-WOL at Halloween Havoc 2000 until losing the title to Crowbar on the November 8th edition of WCW Thunder. After losing the title, Reno would continue making appearances on TV until WWF bought WCW in March 2001. Once again, Reno would be picked up and did time in Heartland Wrestling Association until he was released in late 2001. Afterwards, Reno would only work two more matches with one being in February 2002 for the short lived World Wrestling All-Stars and the second in October 2003 for the indy WXW promotion before retiring.

Prince Iaukea

Titles Won: WCW World Television Championship and WCW Cruiserweight Championship (2x)

Probably one of the more notable names and one with the most success in this article. Iaukea originally trained under Dean Malenko and turned pro in 1995 before signing with WCW shortly afterwards where Kevin Sullivan gave him the "Prince Iaukea" name as a tribute to wrestling legend King Curtis Iaukea after being impressed by Iaukea. After signing, Iaukea spent most of 1996 not doing much as he gained experience. Finally, Iaukea would taste gold from out of nowhere when he upset Lord Steven Regal (William Regal) on the February 17, 1997 edition of WCW Nitro to win the WCW World Television Championship. Iaukea would go on to hold the title for two months and fend off a variety of challengers including Regal, Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera, Bobby Eaton, La Parka, and went a no contest with "Macho Man" Randy Savage to name some until eventually dropping the title to Ultimo Dragon on the April 7, 1997 edition of WCW Monday Nitro.

Afterwards, Iaukea would spend the next two years working as a jobber to the stars while getting occasional titles shots at the World Television, United States, and Cruiserweight Championships and even toured for New Japan Pro Wrestling on the side. After two years of going nowhere, Iaukea would be repackaged in late 1999 as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea", an obvious Prince like gimmick. The gimmick would breathe new life into Iaukea's career as he was quickly pushed in the Cruiserweight division. In January 2000, Iaukea would enter a tournament to crown a new champion. He would proceed to defeat Kid Romeo on the January 26, 2000 WCW Thunder and then defeated Kaz Hayashi on the February 16, 2000 WCW Thunder before winning the tournament the vacant Cruiserweight Championship against Lash LeRoux at SuperBrawl X on February 20th. Iaukea would hold the title for a month fending off challengers like LeRoux, Billy Kidman, Psychosis, David Flair, La Parka, and Crowbar before dropping the title to Kidman at a house show on March 30th. However, the following day, Iaukea would regain the title for the second time. Iaukea would only hold the title for a few weeks before the title was vacated on April 10th along with the other titles upon the return of Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo. After losing the title, Iaukea would get a few more title shots but was never able to win another title before being released in August 2000. After leaving WCW, Iaukea would wrestle sporadically over the next 14 years, competing in the indies and some shots for the short lived XWF beginning in 2001 with his last match to date being in 2015.

Kenny Kaos

Title Won: WCW World Tag Team Championship

Like Reno, Kaos is another guy that, in an article of forgettable wrestlers, he's one of the most forgettable. Kaos trained in the WCW Power Plant and turned pro in 1995. For most of his career, he mostly worked with fellow WCW Power Plant graduate Robbie Rage as part of the tag team High Voltage. Outside of working New Japan's Super Grade Tag League in 1997, he spent the majority of his career as a jobber on WCW's c-level shows like Saturday Night and Worldwide. Then, out of nowhere, Kaos would find himself becoming a champion in late 1998. At Halloween Havoc 1998, Rick Steiner defeated Scott Steiner and The Giant in a handicap match to win the WCW World Tag Team Championships after partner Buff Bagwell abandoned him during the match. The following night on Nitro, Steiner would help Kaos from an nWo Hollywood beatdown and selected Kaos to be his tag team championship partner with Kaos accepting which gave him his one and only honor in wrestling. Kaos and Steiner would successfully defend that night against Stevie Ray and The Giant before doing nothing with the titles for the next several months as this was considered a bad time for the tag team division in WCW. By January 1999, Kaos and Steiner would be stripped of the titles due to Steiner suffering an injury. After the reign, Kaos would largely return to jobber to the stars status and never did much after that until he was released from WCW in November 1999 and retired afterwards.

Mike Sanders

Title Won: WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Out of all the forgettable names on this list, Mike Sanders, at one point, looked like someone with a bright future as he was mostly solid in the ring and showed potential as a talker but like many of the young guys in the latter years of WCW, he eventually would flame out a few years after WCW's closure. Sanders was another WCW Power Plant graduate and turned pro in 1998. After spending two years paying his dues and gaining experience, he began to move up the card in the summer of 2000 and began to get a good push. During this time, he became the leader of the Natural Born Thrillers stable which featured other Power Plant trainees and eventually became WCW Commissioner after winning the position from The Cat. As Commissioner, Sanders would abuse the position, using it to benefit himself and his allies while punishing his enemies. On the October 2, 2000 WCW Monday Nitro, Sanders would book himself to challenge Elix Skipper for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. The catch was, he booked it as a handicap match with Kevin Nash as his partner and the only way to win was to do the powerbomb. Sure enough, Skipper stood no chance and Sanders and Nash got the win but with Nash as a heavyweight, that meant Sanders became the new Cruiserweight Champion. Sanders would hold the title for two months but did little to nothing with it only defending against Lance Storm and Kwee Wee while continuing his rivalry with Cat and later starting one with Nash. Sanders would go on to lose the championship to Chavo Guerrero on the December 6, 2000 edition of WCW Thunder. After the title loss, Sanders would wrap up his feuds with Nash and Cat before going down the midcard until WWF purchased WCW in March 2001. Sanders would be one of the talents picked up by WWF and sent to HWA for further training where he eventually won the HWA Tag Team Titles with future WWE star Lance Cade. Sanders would work in HWA until he was released in late 2002. Afterwards, Sanders would work a show for MLW as he competed in a tournament to crown tag team champions but lost. He then spent several months in Impact Wrestling as a member of Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme stable and participated in the Hard Ten tournament which he lost before leaving in the summer of 2003. Sanders would work sporadically throughout 2004 and 2005 before finally retiring in 2005 after doing shots for Russo's Ring of Glory company.

Lenny Lane

Title Won: WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Lenny Lane originally trained in Minnesota by legendary wrestling trainer Eddie Sharkey and turned pro in 1995 working mostly the Minnesota indies while doing tours for Michinoku Pro Wrestling in Japan and getting the occasional tryout match with WWF and ECW. Lane would make his WCW debut in 1997 and mostly spent two years largely as a jobber with little direction. Things would change in the summer of 1999 when Lane was repackaged with Lodi in what was clearly a gay gimmick called "The West Hollywood Blondes" complete with pink attire, pigtail hair style, and sucking lollipops though WCW tried to make the claim they were brothers when the gimmick began to receive backlash but more on that in a moment. The gimmick change would see Lane get a push and gold as he would defeat Rey Mysterio on the August 19, 1999 edition of WCW Thunder to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Lane would hold the title for a month and a half defending against Juventud Guerrera, Kidman, Evan Karagias, and even got a PPV title defense as he retained against Kaz Hayashi at Fall Brawl 1999. However, by early October, WCW was receiving backlash from LGBT groups like GLAAD over the gimmick and finally given in to the pressure, Lenny and Lodi were immediately taken off TV with Lane being stripped of the Cruiserweight Title with the story being he lost the title to Psychosis at a house show (the match was a phantom match as it never happened). After being taken off TV, Lane and Lodi were repackaged a few times in 2000 first as Standards and Practices with Stacy Kiebler and then as XS but were never able to regain the success they previously had. Eventually, Lane was released by WCW in mid 2000. After leaving, Lane would make an appearance for WWF on Sunday Night Heat but wasn't hired. From October 2001 to February 2002, he frequently worked for the short lived World Wrestling All-Stars continuing his team with Lodi. He then worked for Impact Wrestling during their first year in 2002 as part of the Rainbow Express with Bruce (WCW's Kwee Wee) and even competed for the NWA World Tag Team Championship but came up short. Eventually, Lane settled into a part time indy competitor working in Minnesota until retiring in 2013 though he did return for one match at Wrestlecade 2019.

Todd Champion (left) and Firebreaker Chip (right)

The Patriots

Title Won: WCW United States Tag Team Championship

The Patriots are interesting picks on this list as they're the only tag team on the list and they were actually in WCW's early years instead of their last years. Supposed members of the "WCW Special Forces" the team consisted of Firebreaker Chip who portrayed a fire fighter and Todd Champion who portrayed a vet from the Gulf War. The team debut in July 1991 and immediately got a push getting various shots at the WCW World Tag Team Championship during the summer and fall of 1991 including at Halloween Havoc 1991. While they never won those titles, they would during this time go on to win the WCW United States Tag Team Championship on the September 7, 1991 edition of World Championship Wrestling (taped August 12th) from The Fabulous Freebirds. The Patriots would hold the belts for nearly 3 months defending them against The Freebirds in rematches as well as The York Foundation and preliminary talent until eventually losing the titles to The Young Pistols on the November 23, 1991 edition of WCW Worldwide. After losing the titles, The Patriots got several rematches against The Young Pistols but were never able to regain the titles and eventually fell down the ladder until disbanding in May 1992. After breaking up and leaving WCW, both went on to decent success as Chip would go on to enjoy a few reigns as NWA World Tag Team Champion in 2000 while Champion had a brief run in USWA in 92 where he held their Unified World Title.

Alex Wright

Titles Won: WCW Cruiserweight Championship, WCW World Television Championship, and WCW World Tag Team Championship

It's hard to believe someone who was one world title away from being a grand slam champion can be on this list but that's the case with Alex Wright. A second generation wrestler, Wright was trained by his father Steve and turned pro in 1991 at the age of 16. He spent most of his time working in Europe specifically for the German/Austrian based Catch Wrestling Association before signing with WCW in 1994 while they were touring Europe. After some additional training in the Power Plant, Wright began with WCW in late 1994 and while he had to pay his dues, it became clear the company saw something in him as he quickly got opportunities at title shots and PPVs. He was sent to New Japan to work their 1995 Best of the Super Juniors tournament while challenging Koji Kanemoto for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1995. By mid 1997, Wright began to move up the ladder and began tasting gold for the first time. On the July 28, 1997 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, Wright would defeat Chris Jericho to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. After winning it, Wright would hold the title for a little over 2 weeks but made a few title defenses against Scotty Riggs and won a rematch against Jericho at Road Wild 1997 on August 9th before eventually dropping the title back to Jericho on August 12th during a WCW Saturday Night taping (shown August 16th). 

Only days after losing the Cruiserweight Title, Wright would become a champion again when he defeated The Ultimo Dragon to win the WCW World Television Championship at Clash of the Champions XXXV on August 21, 1997. Wright would hold the title for over a month during which time he fended off challenges from Dean Malenko, Hugh Morrus, Lord Steven Regal, and defeating Ultimo Dragon in a rematch at Fall Brawl 1997 on September 14th before he finally lost it to future partner Disco Inferno on the September 22, 1997 edition of WCW Monday Nitro.

After losing the TV Title, Wright went 3 years with no gold, during which time he teamed with Disco Inferno as The Dancing Fools and was briefly repackaged as Berlyn while also having periods of going months of inactivity. In late 2000, Wright returned to WCW and reunited with Disco (with the team now called The Boogie Knights) and pursued the WCW World Tag Team Championship. By November 2000, things would get complicated as Disco would go down with an injury resulting in Wright working with substitute partners. At the German only PPV Millennium Final on November 16th, Wright would team with General Rection to defeat Tag Team Champions Mark Jindrak and Sean O'Haire for the belts. Despite Rection being the substitute, Disco is credited as champion with Wright. However, the title reign proved brief as Wright and substitute partner Elix Skipper would drop the titles to The Perfect Event (Shawn Stasiak and Chuck Palumbo) upon WCW's return to America on the November 20, 2000 edition of WCW Monday Nitro. After losing the titles, Wright continued in the Boogie Knights until WCW was bought by WWF in March 2001. Ultimately, Wright's deal wasn't picked up and he continued to be paid on his AOL/Time Warner contract. Wanting to take a break due to WCW's backstage politics, Wright would quietly retire from wrestling shortly after in 2001 and has only wrestled sporadically afterwards all the while working as a banker, personal trainer, wrestling promoter, and wrestling trainer.